Strange problem with my 2 P4 rigs

[sulu17]

Hi guys,

I have 2 rigs:

P4 3-C (defualt setting)
IC7
Samsung original DDR400 512MB(2X256)defualt settings
ATI 8500 128MB
Seagate 80GB
DVD
Audigy 2
Intel NIC

P4 2.6@3.0 1.575V
IS7
Samsung irigimal DDR 400 51Mb(2X256)3-4-4-8(5/4)
Geforece 3 TI200
IBM 60GB
DVD
Audigy

I am having problem with both of the computers. I run winXP on both of them, and once in a while the computer freezes and all of the icons and the taskbar disappears for about 45sec to 1min. Then they return. When they do return, some of the icon at the lower right hand corner on the task bars are gone. This happens maybe once a day or every 2 days. It seems to be some kind of explorer error. Can anyone help me? It seems happen more when I try to open a drive in explorer windows. It's strange that it's happening to both computers.
I have already run spybots and norton to see if it's a virus. By the way prime95 and 3dmarks runs fine on both machines.

 

[Slogun]

That is indeed strange behavior especially on both systems.

I would try running adaware and another antivirus again (download a different free antivirus such as kaspersky, etc).
If nothing comes up then how about a sytem restore?

 

[sulu17]

Actually I turned off system restore to make the system more responsive.
I really don't know what's happening here. I will try another virus check ware.
At worst I will have to format and re-install one of the rigs and see step by step what could be a problem, well... there goes the weekend...

 

[Slogun]

OK, well, short of a reinstall you might try the repair option after booting to the cd.

 

[sao123]

It seems as though your explorere.exe is crashing.

When it happens, press cntrl-alt-delete and watch the resources meter in the task manager performance tab to determine what may or may not be a problem. Watch CPU usage and Commit Charge, if the commit charge is real high, you may need to defrag your ram and shrink your system cache.
(a program is available free to do this from Microsmarts @ http://www.SpeedItUp.org)

1)Use the event log and see if there is an error message when the crash occurs.
2)Eliminate all programs running in your system tray. Use MSCONFIG to remove all other programs that are unnecessary at start up. Use the guide found at http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm to determine and turn off unnecessary services which may be running.
3)Try running something like Adaware and make sure theres no ads or spyware gumming up your system.
4)Are you running XP SP1? IE 6SP1? Have you run windows update recently to secure yourself from certain viruses?
5)Check the task scheduler, see if there is something scheduled that runs at the time period you problem occurs in. Norton and Windows do have an auto update that you may have to disable. BTW, which version of Norton are you running? 2002 is the earliest that claims full compatibility with XP.
6)Check you power saving settings in BIOS and Windows, maybe your HDD is in power saving mode and may need to spin back up.
7)Update Roxio EZ CD creator to the latest version if installed on your system, it may conflict with other programs such as DVD software, Virtual CDROM drives, etc. Uninstall the DirectCD Component of Roxio if you dont use it. Update to the latest version of Iomega Tools if you have a zip drive. All removable drive devices can cause this behavior. Also Older SoundBlaster cards have been known to have resource conflicts also causing this, this may be a problem with the audigies also. You could try disabling this for a short time and see if that corrects the problem.

In order to troubleshoot your problem effectively, i need more information.